MotoGP: Rossi wins in Argentina after clashing with Marquez

Felice Monteleone – FMPhotoSport World MotoGP News

Valentino Rossi takes a sensational victory after a masterful ride at the Gran Premio Red Bull de la República Argentina.

Valentino Rossi

The sun had come out and track temperatures had risen to 37 degrees for the start of the MotoGP™ race at the Termas de Rio Hondo. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion Marquez, along with CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, decided to switch to the hard rear tyre on the grid, unlike Rossi and Lorenzo who both decided to use the extra hard compound rear.

This would prove crucial later on in the race, but it was Aleix Espargaro who led the pack into turn one on the Team Suzuki Ecstar, but it didn’t take long for Marc Marquez to make his move for the lead. The Spaniard was able to make a break at the front almost immediately to lead by 0.8s at the end of the first lap.

Marquez took advantage of his hard tyres extra grip early on in the race to extend his lead to over 4 seconds, all the while though Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was making his move through the field. “The Doctor” moved into 2nd place at the expense of Dovizioso on the Ducati Team GP15 with 15 laps to go.

Rossi then set about hunting down Marquez, as the Spaniard’s tyre performance started to fall away, and it suddenly became apparent he would be able to catch the Honda.

It was like watching a ticking time bomb as Rossi made huge in-roads into Marquez’s lead, finally catching him with just 2 laps to go. Marquez was not going to let the Italian pass him without a fight though, and in the ensuing battle the riders touched a couple of times, before Marquez clipped the back of Rossi’s bike and crashed out of the race. Although Marquez was not best pleased, Race Direction ruled it as a “racing incident” and took no further action.

This left Rossi on his own to take the victory by over five-seconds, with Andrea Dovizioso taking advantage of Marquez’s crash to claim 2nd. CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow left it until the very last corner to pass Andrea Iannone to claim the final podium place, managing to hold off the Ducati Team GP15 on the run to the line to take 3rd and finish as the leading satellite rider.

Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo had no answer to the pace of the guys at the front, and finished in rather a lonely fifth place, over 9 seconds ahead of the Satellite Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike of Bradley Smith in 6th.

Aleix Espargaro ended the race in 7th, ahead of his brother Pol, with Scott Redding and Maverick Viñales completing the top ten.

Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci finished in 11th, but was later given one penalty point by Race Direction for irresponsible riding that led Hiroshi Aoyama to crash.

CWM LCR Honda’s Jack Miller took the Open class victory as he finished in 12th, just 0.075s ahead of Hector Barbera on the Avintia Ducati and Athina Forward Racing’s Loris Baz, with his teammate Stefan Bradl in 15th.

Rossi now has a six-point lead over Dovizioso in the Championship standings, and is 30 points ahead of Marquez.

Zarco takes maiden Moto2™ victory to lead Championship

Johann Zarco cruises to a comfortable maiden Moto2™ win ahead of Sam Lowes and Alex Rins in Argentina to lead the Moto2™ World Championship.

Johann Zarco

Ajo Motorsport’s Johann Zarco claimed his first win of the 2015 season to take over the lead at the top of the Moto2™ World Championship standings.

Pole sitter Zarco didn’t have the best of starts, but took the lead on the third lap and began to pull away immediately, extending his lead to over 2 seconds and managing the gap at the front perfectly to take the win.

At one point it looked like Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes might hunt down Zarco, but he didn’t quite have the pace and he found himself coming under pressure from Rookie Alex Rins on the Paginas Amarillas HP40 machine towards the end of the race. Rins eventually overtaking the Brit with 2 laps to go to take second place as Lowes ran into some tyre issues, although the Brit managed to hang on to claim the final podium spot.

Last years Moto2™ runner-up Mika Kallio (Italtrans Racing Team) was in fourth, ahead of his Italian teammate Franco Morbidelli and Thomas Luthi on the Derendinger Racing Interwetten Kalex.

Reigning Moto2™ World Champion Tito Rabat took the hole shot into the first corner, but then ran wide after dicing with Zarco for the lead, and was forced to rejoined the track at the back of the field, eventually finishing in 12th.

Zarco now has a four-point lead in the Moto2™ World Championship standings over Rins after 3 races.

Kent runs away with Moto3™ victory at #ArgentinaGP

Danny Kent became the first British rider to take back-to-back wins in the lightweight-class since Barry Sheene in 1971.

Danny Kent

Circuit conditions had changed from qualifying at the Termas de Rio Hondo, with grey clouds replacing the sunshine and a much lower track temp of 30 degrees, but not even this could stop Kent from claiming his second win of the season.

Leopard Racing’s British rider disappeared off into the distance after taking the lead on the 3rd lap, lapping almost a second faster than the rest of the pack to take the race win by over 11 seconds, in a repeat of his dominant performance from Austin.

This meant that everyone else was battling it out for the remaining two podium places, with Kent’s teammate Efren Vazquez making it a Leopard Racing 1-2 in Argentina, after an excellent final lap scrap with the Husqvarna Factory Laglisse of Isaac Viñales.

Karel Hanika finished in 7th, with Romano Fenati having to come from the back of the grid after an incident during Warm Up to claim 8th. The Italian rider was given 3 penalty points after kicking Niklas Ajo out on track, and then deliberately hitting the RBA Racing rider’s kill-switch to stall his bike, which when added to the point he carried over form last season, meant he had to start from 34th place.

Enea Bastianini and Niklas Ajo rounded out the top ten in 9th and 10th respectively with Francesco Bagnaia the leading Mahindra in 11th.

Danny Kent now has a seventeen-point lead over his teammate Vazquez after just three races, click here for the updated Moto3™ World Championship standings.